Former Oakland Raider coach John Madden his honored during a pregame ceremony for his induction into ... [+]
Former Oakland Raiders coach John Madden, who died suddenly Tuesday at age 85, leaves behind an impressive track record of success on and off the field. What he did and how he did it provides important leadership lessons for anyone who is a company executive—or wants to be.
A Winning Record
As Raiders.com noted, “Few individuals meant as much to the growth and popularity of professional football as Coach Madden, whose impact on the game both on and off the field was immeasurable.”
Madden, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006, had an overall record 112-39-7. His .759 winning percentage during regular season ranks highest among coaches with 100 career victories, according to the Raiders.
Madden was one of the youngest head coaches in history when the Raiders hired him in 1969 at age 32. Under his leadership, Oakland never had a losing year. He was a leading pro football analyst for NBC, ABC, Fox and CBS, and retired from broadcasting after the 2008 season, the Raiders said.
Madden’s Lessons
Watch And Listen
Kyle Kroeger, the founder and owner of the Via Travelers website said, “I have followed John Madden's career for the past few years and found his lessons for coaches applicable to many different situations.
“For example, he said that ‘Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see and listen to what they don't want to hear.’ This is true for business leaders such as myself as well as other roles in life like being a parent. It is difficult to pay attention to things we don't want to hear, but it is absolutely essential in today's volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous [world],” he advised.
Connect Through Stories
Ashley Folkes is the director of marketing and growth strategies at Bridgeworth Wealth Management. He recalled that, “I grew up hearing John Madden on-air on Sundays. I remember that he told very engaging stories that made you feel like you were there or that you knew the person he was talking about.
“I think this is very important in leadership because it gives you the ability to connect with people at a deeper level. It also helps people align with your vision and your organization's mission.”
Read The Room
Executive coach Kristen Zavo said that, “... what really stands out to me is his humanity and emotional intelligence— before EQ was a leadership buzzword.
“The teams he coached have lauded his ability to lead, to be firm—and to do so without pulling the usual and expected levers of angry outbursts and public humiliation. As a young coach, he learned to ‘read the room’ well—not just tuning into the needs of his team, but also managing a demanding (and at the time—way more experienced) owner, Al Davis,” Zavo pointed out.
There Isn’t Just One Way
Leadership coach Michael O’Brien said Madden provides corporate executives with three valuable lessons:
- “Lead with fun and enthusiasm. If you don’t demonstrate excitement for your vision and purpose, your team won’t either.”
- “Come as you are. He coached a cast of characters, and he allowed them to have a personality. [Madden] didn’t try to put them in a box or meet some ideal image. Instead, he was the first to allow his team to, ‘You Do You, Boo.’”
- “There isn’t one way. Given his fear of flying, as a broadcaster, Coach Madden traveled in an RV bus to get from city to city, unlike others who [chose] to fly.”
Lead By Example
Digital marketing consultant Jiten Thakkar said that, “...there is one particular John Madden quote that I love the most, which is ‘If a guy doesn't work hard and doesn't play well, he can't lead anything. All he is, is a talker.’
“To be a good leader you have to work [hard] yourself first and lead by example. Mere talking seldom helps in building a team with a strong foundation,” Thakkar observed.
Get The Most From People
Scott Whiteford is the director of leadership analytics at Talent Plus. He pointed out that, “Madden’s tremendous talent to communicate, empathize and understand each one of his players based on their individual goals, needs and aspirations is what allowed him to get the most out of each of them. Furthermore, his ability to develop troubled athletes, who may have been discarded by other teams, is what made him such a great coach.
“For Madden, it was never ‘my way of the highway;’ instead, it was about walking shoulder to shoulder with each of his players, which allowed them to display their personalities and perform to the best of their abilities.”
Educate Others
Stephen Light, chief marketing officer and co-owner of mattress company Nolah Sleep, He recalled the story from Madden: A Biography of how he “transformed the way CBS [broadcasts] NFL games because of his passion and demand that everyone on the team really understood the intricacies of the game. [Madden] noted the lazy approach that was being taken... [by] CBS [which] was focusing on entertainment rather than true game analysis, and knew that he wanted to offer viewers more.
“He put in motion a system where everybody—from TV crew[s] to producers—was trained in the artistry and science of a football game so that they could...broadcast with specificity and intelligence,” Light said.
Advice For Business Leaders
“What Madden did with football broadcasting can be easily applied to any business scenario. It can’t just be the leaders or the faces of the company that understand the ins and outs of the industry, and vice versa. [E]veryone has to do [their] homework so that as a team, everything moves like clockwork towards better business outcomes,” he concluded.
